An official with the Department of Homeland Security recently told House lawmakers that a Russian campaign is currently underway with the aim of compromising the process controls of government and private organizations belonging to critical U.S. industries.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communication at the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, spoke during a joint hearing between the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. She said Russian attackers have been attempting to penetrate the industrial control systems of select U.S. business and government entities since at least 2015.

Though Manfra did not specify which entities have been targeted, she did indicate that they belonged to the aviation, energy, manufacturing, nuclear and water sectors. Manfra explained that the Russian campaign was detected through a collaborative effort involving the DHS, the FBI and various international partners. She went on to describe incident response efforts that the DHS and FBI have carried out to mitigate the effects of the Russian intrusion.

Nevertheless, Manfra emphasized Homeland Security’s position that the attack is still in progress, and that “threat actors are actively pursuing their ultimate long-term campaign objectives.”

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said the Defense Department is on track to establish a U.S. Space Command and a Space Development Agency in early 2019, Space News reported Thursday. 

The official expects the DoD to continue moving forward in its space reorganization efforts, as the agency may not face any congressional resistance in the coming year and existing executive authorities can be used to set up the new space command and agency. 

Shanahan said the Space Command may stand in the first quarter of 2019 if the Senate immediately confirms a four-star commander to lead the organization. 

However, he noted establishing the Space Development Agency may require more time.

DoD officials are still in talks over possible leaders of the agency and their specific tasks. 

Shanahan is also leading a Space Governance Committee tasked to create a bill to establish President Trump’s proposed Space Force.  

He said the panel aims to submit a legislative proposal that would establish the new service on Oct. 1 of next year. 

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson estimated that forming the Space Force and Space Command would cost $13B over the next five years. 

The General Services Administration has proposed a new rule that would require contractors to report cyber threats and provide GSA and client agencies authority to access breached systems, Nextgov reported Thursday.

The agency introduced the policy as an amendment to the GSA Acquisition Regulation, according to a regulatory roadmap obtained by the publication.

The proposed rule would direct contractors to disclose any cyber incident that undermines the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information systems or data “owned or managed by or on behalf of the U.S. government.”

Contractors would also be required to save images of breached platforms and provide incident reporting training for employees.

GSA plans to issue in April a notice of proposed rulemaking with a comment period that will run through June, according to the notice.

The General Services Administration has proposed to consolidate into a single vehicle four special item numbers for cybersecurity services on its IT Schedule 70 in an effort to reflect the addition of high value asset assessments area.

GSA said Wednesday the proposed single Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services SIN 132-45 will have five subcategories for cyber services.

Those subcategories are:\n

• Cyber Hunt
• High Value Asset Assessments
• Incident Response
• Penetration Testing
• Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

\nThe agency said it collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget to identify new areas to add to HACS offerings and those include system security engineering, system architecture review and RVA related to the HVA assessment aspect.

The new HACS SIN 132-45 aligns with the programs cited in the Cybersecurity Implementation Plan for Federal Civilian Government, IT Modernization Report and the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, GSA noted.

The agency will accept feedback on the proposed SIN changes within 10 business days of the draft document’s publication.
 

The Pentagon failed to get a “clean opinion” in its first departmentwide financial audit, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

A team of 1K independent auditors and representatives from the Defense Department’s office of inspector general evaluated over 90K sample items and found that information technology weaknesses were some of the top issues identified in the audit.

Those IT gaps include issues over security management, system changes and inadequate access controls.

Auditors found that DoD does not have a “universe of transactions” or documentation needed to back a financial statement balance; lacks systems to demonstrate the value or existence of its equipment or property; and does not have plans for corrective actions to deal with material deficiencies.

“As expected, this audit has uncovered a number of matters that Congress and the Pentagon must work together to address,” Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement published Thursday.

Thornberry added the audit should serve as an “opportunity” to advance DoD’s reform initiatives and “should not be used as an excuse for arbitrary cuts that reverse the progress we have begun on rebuilding our strength and readiness.”

The report said DoD IG will issue in December a full report to shed light on the audit’s overall findings.
 

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said potential cuts in the agency’s fiscal 2020 budget could have an impact on space exploration programs, SpaceNews reported Thursday.

“If that materializes, no, we’re not going to have what we need to go to the moon,” he said Thursday at a National Space Council meeting of the users’ advisory group in Washington.

He mentioned that the White House has asked NASA to come up with a proposed 5 percent reduction or approximately $1B in savings for its next fiscal budget slated for release in February.

Bridenstine noted that he would not reprogram funds from other NASA programs in order to support the agency’s exploration plans.

He also expressed optimism about NASA’s potential collaboration with international partners to advance its exploration strategy including lunar missions, according to the report.